Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed a bill this week giving the more than 1,700 nurse practitioners in West Virginia the ability to diagnose and treat patients without physician oversight.

Nurse practitioners in West Virginia are required to work under the guidance of a physician. But in the past, advanced practice nurses couldn’t always find physicians to sign off on their work, sometimes leaving patients without care. House Bill 4334 attempts to address that problem.

Advocates of the recently passed bill said physician oversight limited the ability of nurse practitioners – who are nurses with master’s level or doctorate training - to practice to the full scope of their ability.

The hope is that the bill will also help expand access to care in rural areas and alleviate West Virginia’s provider shortage.

Nurse practitioners will still need a physician signature when prescribing opioids and other heavy duty narcotics.

The bill takes effect in June with the requirement of a legislative review of the system in two years.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.

Officials from Charleston Area Medical Center may consider changing their policies on prescribing opioid.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that CAMC chief operating officer Dr. Glen Crotty told members of the hospital's board of directors Wednesday that the hospital system would consider placing more limits on what can be prescribed in its emergency rooms. Crotty says the hospital system is working on limiting prescriptions from 30 or 45 days to about five days.

Nearly 2,900 West Virginians have overdosed on prescription painkillers or heroin over the past five years.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the statistics are from the state Health Statistics Center, which also said overdose deaths last year were the highest in the state since 2011. Moreover, the state is on pace for a record year in drug overdoses.